What is Samsung Pay, how does it work, and which banks support it?

Samsung Pay has been active in several countries, including the US and South Korea, for a while and is now available in the UK too.

It is a platform that allows you to pay for goods and services simply by waving your Samsung device near a cash register instead of swiping a credit card or doling out your payment information, a bit like Apple Pay or Google Pay on rival phones.

Here's everything you need to know.

Samsung Pay: What do I need?

The payment platform is baked into Samsung Galaxy devices - from Galaxy S6, Note 5 and up - so it'll work with a compatible phone. You can also use it with the Gear S3 smartwatch in some regions.

You simply download and install the Samsung Pay Android app on your supported phone, register desired cards and accounts and it will draw directly from these chosen sources when making a payment.

Samsung also offers a Pay Mini app, which is available for all other Android devices.

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Samsung Pay: How does it work?

When using a phone: by swiping up from the bottom of the display (on either the sleep or home screens) the Samsung Pay app will launch and your default card will appear along with a message to authenticate a payment with their fingerprint (or iris scanner on Galaxy S8 and S8+). If a different card is needed, a simple left or right swipe will bring up others stored in your phone.

Once the payment has been biometrically authorised (hence compatibility with the latest devices only, as these have fingerprint or iris scanners) the phone tells you to tap it onto the contactless payment reader and bingo, a payment is made via NFC (near field communication).

Samsung Pay: More than NFC

Samsung Pay offers more than just NFC in some regions, such as the US. In an attempt to spearhead the mobile wallet space, while simultaneously taking on Apple Pay, Samsung acquired LoopPay - a startup that invented a mobile wallet technology called MST (Magnetic Strip Technology).

MST allows a contactless payment to be made with terminals that do not feature NFC readers (mostly outside the UK), which opens up a lot more retailers to the payment tech. It can also send the payment information to conventional terminals in stores that have the old-fashioned magnetic strip instead. Samsung told us during a demo that this covers the vast amount of payment terminals in the world.

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A two-step payment process works like so: LoopPay's app manages and securely stores all your payment cards (including credit, debit, loyalty, and gift cards) on a mobile device, while the LoopPay device (LoopPay Fob, ChargeCase, Card, or CardCase) processes your payment at the checkout as if you had swiped your card like usual.

What's more, there is no danger of paying twice as the phone will prioritise an NFC signal if it finds one, while MST is passive and will only be utilised if no other contactless payment signal is found first.

Samsung Pay vs Apple Pay: What's the difference?

Apple Pay employs an NFC chip into its smartphone, just like Samsung. Apple has steadily bulked its range of partners that accept Apple Pay and most recently included support for US federal payment cards.

The biggest difference between Apple Pay and Samsung Pay is that Apple Pay is accepted at fewer registers because it doesn't include MST. Samsung Pay also has the potential of being accepted at 30-million merchant locations around the world, though both payment platforms have lined up several partners to back their payment systems.

Samsung Pay: Payment limits

The payment limit is set by the bank or vendor, not by Samsung, so is different in different regions - not a fixed £20/£30 maximum per transaction, as with contactless cards.

But if you need to pay for an item above the set limit, the app will simply request you to enter a PIN code to confirm for the larger amount.

Samsung Pay: How secure is it?

In terms of security, Samsung told Pocket-lint that not only are details protected by Samsung's Knox real-time hacking surveillance and rooting prevention, but no card details are stored on either a Samsung server or the device itself.

Just like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay uses tokenisation. Card payments are made secure by creating a number or token that replaces your card details. This token is stored within a secure element chip on your device, and when a payment is initiated, the token is passed to the retailer or merchant. The retailer therefore never has direct access to your card details.